30 mei 2015

In my memory there were as many car-ferries as there were bridges on the route that we followed through the Finnish Lake District. It's a beautiful region which covers most of central and East Finland.

28 mei 2015

I have showed you several photos from high up at the Martinitoren or Martin's Tower, so it's about time to have a look standing on the ground. This tower is the highest church steeple in the city of Groningen, and the bell tower of the Martinikerk (Martin's Church). The carillon within the tower contains 62 bells.
The citizens of Groningen call their tower d'Olle Grieze, meaning the old grey one in the local dialect.

25 mei 2015

The Bargerveen Nature Reserve, where these photos were taken yesterday, is part of the Bourtanger Moor-Bargerveen International Nature Park and is located on both sides of the border between the Netherlands and Germany. The sparsely populated landscape consists of large peat areas, heather, and small lakes. Bargerveen, on the Dutch side, has a size of 21 km² (8.1 sq mi).
Instead of following one of the marked walking trails we made our own route, and passed several large fields of veenpluis (´cottongrass´ in English), a plant that grows so well on peat bogs.

22 mei 2015

This is the Pier Pander Temple in the Leeuwarden city park Prinsentuin. The building is part of the Pier Pander Museum. Jacobs Pier Pander (1864-1919) was a Dutch sculptor and designer of medals. He was the son of a poor Friesian boatman. At young age, his talent for woodcarving was recognised, and he studied at an art school in Amsterdam and later in Paris.

19 mei 2015

Following up on yesterdays post I'd like to show you 2 more photos that I took inside the Fraeylemaborg. The last private owners and residents were the family Thomassen à Thuessink van der Hoop, who lived here until 1972 when they sold the borg to the foundation that I mentioned yesterday.

It was great to see the original floor tiles and furniture in all the rooms. How about the 2 benches here in this hallway..

18 mei 2015

Yesterday afternoon we visited the Fraeylemaborg in the town of Slochteren in the province of Groningen. The Dutch word borg means a former stronghold or villa. The Fraeylemaborg dates from the 16th century and was rebuilt several times in the ages that followed. It is currently a museum, owned by the Gerrit van Houten Foundation. Nice fact is that the villa and estate are also a wedding-location.

17 mei 2015

The roof looked upon here is from the Martinikerk or Martin´s Church, seen from up the Martinitoren or Martin´s Tower. They were both named after Saint Martin of Tours (316-397), the patron saint of the Bishopric of Utrecht to which Groningen belonged. The origins of the Martin's Church are a cruciform church built in the 13th century, which was extended in the 15th and 16th centuries.

The white with blue buildings that you see on the top left belong to the UMCG, the University Medical Center Groningen, the main hospital of the city.

16 mei 2015

With the sun coming through yesterday afternoon, climbing the 251 steps of the Martinitoren (Martin's Tower) in Groningen was worth the effort as the views were spectacular. This is the Grote Markt as one of the Mayfair's locations, right at the feet of the City Hall.

15 mei 2015

Daredevils can experience 4.5G's in The 90m Tower during a free fall, now at the Mayfair in Groningen. Even watching it was scary enough for me though! :) Look how small the Ferris wheel looks there in the background..

I took both pictures from up the Martinitoren or 'Martin's Tower', standing at the highest point for visitors at 56 metres and zooming in at the people in the gondola just before they went down.

14 mei 2015

..and this one fiercely shaking its head (NO NO I don't want to be photographed!!) were at the Balloohoeve in the small village of Balloo today, near Rolde. The Balloohoeve is a so-called 'care farm'. The purpose of care farming is to promote mental and physical health by giving vulnerable people the opportunity to spend time working on the land. Care farms can provide supervised and structured programs of farming-related activities, including animal husbandry, crop and vegetable production and woodland management. We see these farms a lot here in the Netherlands.

The Balloohoeve also sells locally produced products (including meat from its own livestock), serves coffee, tea and ice-cream, and even has a small campsite.

13 mei 2015

Hemelse Hebbedingen or ´Heavenly Wannahaves´ is a mini-departement store in Deventer that sells a variety of (vintage and retro) goods: clothes, shoes, accessories, stationery, small things for your livingroom, etc. Isn't their sign a sweet one?

11 mei 2015

One of the pieces that I liked seeing when I visited museum De Buitenplaats in Eelde is this small bronze sculpture, named 'Zoon op de vensterbank' (Son in the window sill), created by Margriet Barends (1958). She is a Dutch sculptor who in her work mainly focusses on people, as well as animals.

10 mei 2015

This narrow path known as the Stinsenpad or 'Stinsen path' belongs to the garden of De Buitenplaats Museum in Eelde. Here grow Stinsen plants, which is the Dutch and German name of a group of plants that were introduced a long time ago to grow and run wild on certain places like old country estates, farmsteads, and former city walls. Stinsen plants usually bloom in Spring. I don't know the name of the pretty white flowers on the photo, but their fragrance was gorgeous!

The word stins originally comes from West Frisian stienhus (Dutch steenhuis) 'stone house', shortened to stins. A stins is a former stronghold or villa in the province of Friesland. Many stinsen carry the name 'state' (related to English 'estate').

9 mei 2015

Even though several cruise ships were still arriving at Kos Island each day, most tourist were gone in mid October when this photo was taken. No doubt these ticket boots, selling tickets for (day) trips to Bodrum in nearby Turkey, know busier days in the Summer season.

8 mei 2015

A good cappuccino is really a treat for me. And when I took this photo earlier today, enjoying the sun on the outdoor terrace of Museum De Buitenplaats in Eelde, it occurred to me that I have taken more photos like these in the past. So maybe this post "My cappuccino in..." could be the first of a new series, let's see what happens :)

This particular cappuccino was served by a very friendly staff, and included a small glass of water and a mini 'stroopwafel' or 'syrup waffle', a popular Dutch sweet cookie.

5 mei 2015

Today May 5 is Bevrijdingsdag (Liberation Day), this day marks the end of WW2 and we celebrate the fact that we live in freedom. But it is also a day on which we reflect on the lack of freedom elsewhere in the world: at the many Liberation Festivals that are held today, young people are made aware of the fact that freedom is not something they should take for granted.

If you would like to read more about the meaning of May 4 (Remembrance Day) and May 5 in the Netherlands please visit the official website HERE.

4 mei 2015

..at the tower of the "Der Aa-Church" in Groningen, which dates from the Middle Ages.
Originally there was a chapel situated on the site of the current church. In 1247, the chapel became the parish church and was named Onze Lieve Vrouwe ter Aa ("Our Lady at the Aa") - the Aa being the nearby river. Groningen had 2 centers at the time, one of them was around the chapel. Here lived the fishermen and the traders.
In the 15th century the chapel was changed into a brick church.